Batman: Arkham Origins
Summary Continuing from the success of the Batman: Arkham series, WB Studios and DC Comics came up with a prequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum. Batman: Arkham Origins is an adventure game that's available for Nintendo Wii U and Playstation 3. Story On the night of Christmas Eve, Bruce Wayne gets word that a ruthless criminal Ramon Sionis (A.K.A. Black Mask) has escaped from prison and has hired a team of assassins and mercenaries to defeat Batman. By going through Gotham, Batman must gather clues and interrogate criminals in order to find Black Mask before it's too late. Game Modes Story Mode Play the story of the game as you complete the main story's objectives as well as side missions to progress. Multiplayer Play against other players in many of the maps in this mode. Story Mode Plus Play the story on any mission and any alternate Batsuit you have unlocked. You must complete Story mode on normal difficulty or higher to unlock. Character Trpohies By progressing through the story mode to unlock character trpohies. You can view them in this mode. Options Menu Adjust the game, sound and picture options in this mode. Johnny Review General Thoughts Of course, I played Batman: Arkham City, so I wanted to play this because I like Batman as he's one of my personal favorite comic book hero. Graphics The Graphics in this game is nothing short of spectacular. They're only a slight improvement from Arkham City Because the game takes place in the midst of s snowstorm, the lighting around the outside almost looks like as in an actual snowstorm with the sky lit up from the snow on the ground, the streetlights reflecting off of the snow is also good as well. The character models are about the same as in Arkham City, so it's a few steps forward as well as a few steps backward. Rating: 8.5 Music The soundtrack in this game are like in the Batman movies, they're orchestrated and go along with the current pace of the game, slow when exploring and fast when in combat. But all-in-all, nothing really special or interesting. Rating: 4.5 Sound/Voices The sounds are the same as in Arkham City with some new sound effects. The hit sounds and computer sounds are the same as well. The voices on the other hand is a plus as well as a minus. Most of the original voice talents returned (e.g., The Penquin), some of them are new. But, Kevin Conroy didn't return for his voice for Batman, he's replaced by Roger Craig Smith (the voice for Chris Redfield from Marvel VS. Capcom 3: The Fate of 2 Worlds). Other than that, the voices are very good. Rating: 6.5 Gameplay/Controls The gameplay is basically the same as it is in Arkham City with the combat gameplay being basically the same with only some new tweaks, though some of the boss battles (like the one with Deathstroke) are a bit more difficult than the ones in Arkham City. This game puts a little more emphasis on detective work, you can playback an actual crime based off of the evidence you have collected. In the pause menu you can also view the map, side missions, upgrades for combat and gadgets and even stealth techniques. Speaking of gadgets, Batman starts out with a system of gadgets that he used in Arkham City during the game(e.g. The Cryptographic Sequencer, The Explosive Gel and the Batarangs), he can obtain new gadgets (e.g., The Remote Claw, The Desruptor which is now a remote electrical charge destruptor combination, shock gloves, and more). The controls are also the same as in Arkham City, though what you can do in the options menu is turn off the hints, what it does in this game however is that it makes the game more difficult by also removing the button prompts as well as the hints themselves. Rating: 8 Replay Value This is one of the game's strong points. There's a lot of extra content to unlock. You can unlock character trophies and view them at any time. You can also unlock many different types of batsuits that Batman can wear either in Story mode plus or any of the challenge or multiplayer modes. Some will be available to you as you progress through the story, others you have to meet certain standards to unlock. Rating: 9.5 Final Thoughts In a lot of ways, Arkham Origins is like an updated version of Arkham City. But nevertheless it's a good and fun game to play. If you believe in the saying "Don't fix it if it's not broken" (like me, JohnnyOTGS), this game is the one for you, and for those that like the Arkham series. Overall Rating: 8